For twenty years after the battle, relatively little Saxon offensive activity is recorded in Britain, so total was the British victory. The very reputation of the invincible horsemen from the north probably had much more to do with German reluctance to challenge the Britons to open battle than any loss of manpower which the battle had cost. The fragmentation of the Britons themselves, however, allowed the Germans to eventually subjugate the island.

According to the Annales Camhrige, the Comes Arturios was slain at the Battle of of Camlann in 537(9). The Welsh Annals note that in the same year, "There was a plague in Britain and Ireland". The chroniclers knew that the loss of the last Comes Britanniarum signalled the end of their way of life and portents of evil were readily detected and duly reported.

With his death, the last of the Romano-British leaders was gone. Bede wrote that the British predilection for civil war and failure to convert the Saxons to Christianity were the reasons for Britain's fall. Attrition and overwhelming odds were as much the reason as anything else.

The Anglo-Saxons simply moved into depopulated areas and settled. The Britons had nothing left to fight with. By 550 A.D., the chroniclers noted that civil war made it impossible for the Britons to unify. There remained no leader strong enough to bring them together.

As the years passed, the Germans continued to arrive in large numbers and with no semblance of a unified command to oppose them, they advanced into the interior. London was still strongly held by local levies and the Germans did not possess siege weapons, so they bypassed the city, swung north and effectively cut London off, but were stopped in their progress by the Romney Marsh and the great forests of Andredesweald in the south. For many years, the only real obstacles the German faced were these natural ones which blocked their advance.

By 552 A.D., the A.S.C. once again notes the German advances, battles and victories. The surviving Britons fought the advances, gradually retiring to Wales, Cornwall (Dumnonia) and Strathclyde where they acclimated to their new homes, leaving the old Roman provinces to their new owners. Vestiges of Roman civilization in Britain disappeared as the different peoples intermingled and the constant warfare destroyed more and more of the artifacts of what once was.

All of this the result of Rome's inability to uphold an established order in her abandoned province, which had come to depend upon the protection of the Roman legions. The process of power struggles, tribal warfare, the breakdown of society and order followed in rapid succession.

Prophetically, the prophecy of Taliesin ends with the lines: (After a long period of time) Then the Britons gain Their land and their crown, And the foreigners Will disappear.

Five hundred years later, the descendants of the Romano- Britons who had fled to Brittany returned to England, this time as part of the army of William the Conqueror to claim back the lands of their ancestors.

Leadership

The leadership of Ambrosius and the later Comes are excellent examples of intelligent use of available resources and technology.

Utilizing their mobility against the slower Germans allowed the Britons to respond rapidly and in force when the more numerous enemy maneuvered. Even the inferior levy foot were sensibly used to hold river crossings, strongpoints and towns, where their semblance of training stood them well when on the tactical defensive in a strong position.

The Saxon leaders. Hengist and Horsa, certainly left little to chance in their use of guile and stratagems. Not only did they manage to psychologically manipulate the vacillating Vortigern, but somehow convinced hundreds of British leaders to march unarmed to their deaths under the guise of attending a peace conference.

At the battle at Aeillestreu, Ambrosius used an interesting tactic of placing his best troops in the center of his battle formation. When the Saxons routed the much weaker flank division of untrained levies, the elite, trained comitatus made the difficult maneuver of turning (in the midst of a pitched battle) and charging into the Saxon pursuers, emulating the best of ancient Greek and Roman tactical moves. It is interesting to note that the Saxons under Cerdic also used the same tactic, swinging onto the rear of the supposedly victorious Britons. These tactics hardly seem indicative of an enfeebled and unreactive generalship with little or no control over forces once they are involved in battle.

While the Germans resorted in the end to mass genocide to retain their conquests, the outnumbered Britons had to rely on strategy and tactics to hold their own and restrain the invaders. When the charismatic, intelligent leadership disappeared, so did the last chance of the Britons.

More Defense of Britain

Defense of Britain 450-537AD: Introduction
Defense of Britain 450-537AD: State of 5th Century Britain
Defense of Britain 450-537AD: Invasions of the 5th Century
Defense of Britain 450-537AD: Battle of Mons Badonicus (Mt. Badon)
Defense of Britain 450-537AD: Aftermath of Battle of Mons Badonicus